Category Archives: Ruby

Everyone’s been talking about the Northern Lights. I’ve been in Alaska all of my life, more or less, and sometimes folks ask Why? Of course it’s easy to say the scenery, the lifestyle, and such. Often living here is a struggle- Gas is close to $7/gallon, a gallon of milk will cost you ten bucks, and going to the movie is 400 miles away. But if you ask me, its the Sky. Throughout the year the Sky is the one thing that I enjoy the most. In the summer there is no dark and in the winter there is little light. And then the Northern Lights appear and are sometimes so dramatic as to set you speechless.

The last two nights have had spectacular displays. Musher running into the night have undoubtedly been awestruck to move through the magical movements. They are so bright that with the full moon we have, the night is lit up in green and blue. Pardon my tangent, but it is worth mentioning.

It appears that several mushers are taking their mandatory 8 hour layovers in Ruby. This frees them from mandated rest periods and they can then run at their team’s discretion. This makes sense after a long grueling run from Ophir. On the Yukon, checkpoints are much closer together and the trail will probably be much bettter as well as it is an established transportation link.

Pete and the Team were into Ruby at 11:54am. 14 dogs remain in the Team. As of 5:45pm, they had the fastest time between Cripple and Ruby.

After Ruby, Pete and the Team will have a 50 mile run to Galena, then a 37 mile run to Nulato and finally a 47 mile run to Kaltag.

At Kaltag I am curious about how the Team will react to a trail they have already run recently. When I have these curiosities, I generally give Myron a call. I asked him what he thought and he said that it all depends. If a team has not had a positive experience, it can be a bad thing, but if it was positive, the dogs know where the finish is and it can be a small advantage. Of course, as he mentioned, several of the teams in front have been over that section of trail many times as well.

In any case, Pete and the Team are in a great position and I can’t wait to see the photos from Galena. I would bet that those dogs are looking awesome from the trail times we are seeing.

Team Kaiser can leave Ruby at 7:54 pm this evening. A 50 mile run will be about 6 hours, so they should be arriving into Galena early tomorrow morning. For my photo crew in Galena– Keep an eye on the GPS tracker to find when he is headed your way.

GPS now shows Pete and the Team into Ruby. They are in 1oth position at this point. Expect a rest period here before heading down the Yukon River to Galena. He is currently about 5 hours back from the Leaders, but in a great position.

What a nice run and great strategy for our favorite musher!

Some photos of Ruby from the past:

Peter Kaiser 2018 Iditarod

Finished 3/14/18 1:09:03pm
5th Place
9days 22hrs 9min 2sec

Thank You!!

Listen to the Nome Siren

When Teams arrive, the Nome Siren announces the arrival to the entire Community. Click and Listen